Weekly Takes - Monday, March 20th Edition

Weekly Takes - Monday, March 20th Edition

1. My three stars from the Maple Leafs bad loss to the Sabres on Monday…

1. Auston Matthews

2. Mitch Marner

3. Calle Jarnkrok

It turns out you cannot play for only 20 minutes in the NHL and expect to win.

2. My three stars from the Leafs dreadful shootout loss to the Avs on Wednesday…

1. Ilya Samsonov

2. Morgan Riley

3. Matthews

It was Riley’s best game of the season, but it has been an otherwise ugly week for the Leafs.

3. My three stars from the Leafs shootout win over the Senators on Saturday…

1. Matt Murray

2. Calle Jarnkrok

3. Matthews

Murray’s best game as a Leaf. He needed to steal this game with the Leafs on the second half of a back-to-back against a motivated Sens team and he did just that.

Has to feel good for him, everything considered.

4. James Reimer has the right to say and believe in whatever he wants, but people equally have the right to criticize him for what he says and does.

I just cannot fathom a person who uses religion as a reason to not support an entire group of people, one who goes out of his way to make a night bigger than himself… about himself.

5. It is hard not to be impressed with what the Bears are doing right now.

They have a boatload of draft picks and used their massive amount of cap space on a borderline star wide receiver and two starting-calibre inside linebackers.

With the Packers vulnerable in the NFC North and the Vikings primed for regression, no one should be sleeping on the Bears next season.

6. Just as impressive as the Bears have been the Broncos, who needed to support their elite defence and high-end skilled offensive players with a proper offensive line.

Mission accomplished. There is no question that the Broncos are a prime bounce-back candidate in 2023. It truly does come down to Russell Wilson and whether or not he has anything left in the tank.

7. As for the Steelers, landing Patrick Peterson hours after losing Cameron Sutton to the Lions is an offseason-saving signing.

But the Steelers defensive backs room is old and flawed. They need to draft a cornerback high in April’s draft.

That should be doable too, after spending a majority of their cap space on their offensive line for the second offseason in a row. The offensive line overhaul needed to continue and it has in spectacular fashion.